DCU Students – “Advice to My Leaving Cert Self”

1ST MYTH : YOU NEED TO HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY Remembering key sources, dates or quotes is of course very useful, but marks will be awarded for demonstrating that you understand your subject.

2ND MYTH: EXAM QUESTIONS ARE WRITTEN TO TRIP YOU UP & HIGHLIGHT YOUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE College examiners want students to pass exams. It is in no-one’s interest to have large numbers of students failing exams. Examiners will seek to give you marks where they can.

3RD MYTH: BASICALLY PUT EVERYTHING DOWN THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT A SUBJECT & THAT SHOULD COVER IT You need to answer the question without waffling and rambling on at length about irrelevant stuff. It will not get you any more marks and examiners can spot when you are doing this….

4TH MYTH: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO PLAN YOUR ANSWER You can brainstorm or mind map an exam answer in 5 minutes: introduction, main points, conclusion. This is one way of using any extra time you have been given. Planning stops you waffling.

5TH MYTH: AN EXAM ANSWER THAT HAS PERFECT SPELLING, GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION MARKS WILL GAIN MORE MARKS Clearly you will lose marks if your work / diagrams / calculation are difficult to read and thus interpret. However marks are awarded for content i.e. ‘has the student answered the question, do they know what they are talking about’?

6TH MYTH: THE MORE PAGES YOU WRITE, THE MORE MARKS YOU WILL GET Quality and relevance is more important than quantity. Short and concise answers that cover the main points accurately are preferable to 2 – 3 pages that don’t say much at all. So don’t be put off by the person next to you who is on his 3rd answer booklet!

7TH MYTH: STAYING UP LATE/ ALL NIGHT BEFORE AN EXAM WILL HELP YOU REMEMBER MORE It is a fact that the brain takes 24 hours to absorb, order and file information. Much of this re-organisation is done whilst you are asleep. Depriving yourself of sleep disrupts this process. Make a revision timetable and revise in a manageable way.

8TH MYTH: TALKING ABOUT REVISION TOPICS & QUESTIONS WITH PEERS LAST MINUTE BEFORE AN EXAM IS GOOD This will disrupt your concentration and is liable to make you panic. It may also make you doubt your own knowledge. Stay away from people who do this deliberately, find a quiet area to be by yourself.

9TH MYTH: YOU SHOULD NOT EAT BEFORE AN EXAM Sitting a 3 hour exam on an empty stomach is more likely to make you less alert. You will find it difficult to concentrate with a rumbling stomach, and you may feel faint or tired due to low blood sugar. This might prompt you to leave an exam early before you have double-checked your work

10TH MYTH: THERE IS NO POINT IN DOING LAST MINUTE REVISION Well it’s true that you are not going to learn off your topic / subject in a final 45 minutes of crash revision. However, there is nothing wrong with reviewing your mind maps or looking through flashcards. The best way to revise is to review your material: At the end of your study session One day after you revised the material One week later One month later